End of the day

FTSE closes the day up, but some gains erased

16.30 The FTSE 100 has ended the week at 6,815, a 0.2pc rise today. Despite pushing above last year's closing peak in the wake of today's strong retail data, it is now 25 points off that level, and 115 off the all-time record of 1999.

Shell regained some of its losses to close 1.1pc down, but RBS slipped throughout the day, ending 2.1pc lower.

FX traders in London put on leave by HSBC, Citigroup

16.10 As currency rigging takes over from Libor as the banking scandal du jour, both HSBC and Citigroup have sent two forex traders each home.

HSBC says it has suspended the traders, while Citigroup says it has put them "on leave". Neither bank has commented further.

Greek central bank governor gets bullets in the post

15.45 George Provopoulos, the governor of the Greek central bank, was sent a threatening letter with two bullets, Athens police have said.

Mr Provopoulos has been criticised for failing to properly oversee Hellenic Postbank, as AFP reports:

According to Mega television, one of whose senior journalists also received a similar threat, the note was sent by an unknown group calling itself 'Popular Avengers'.

The letter to Provopoulos, containing two 7.65-millimetre bullets, arrived with the rest of his morning mail, a police source said.

Greece's anti-terrorist squad has opened an investigation into both cases.

Provopoulos is currently facing criticism for allegedly lax oversight of Hellenic Postbank, the former state lender whose leadership is under investigation for issuing unsecured loans prior to its privatisation last year.

Some two dozen people have been charged and several arrested in a probe into losses by the bank of over €400m

US stocks mixed after data

15.15 Data out of the US is painting a mixed picture of the economy, leaving stocks struggling for direction.

• The number of new houses being built declined by 10pc to 999,000 in December, in line with predictions. • Industrial production rose 0.3pc in December, also in line • Meanwhile, a survey of consumer confidence carried out by the University of Michigan decreased to 80.4, an unexpected drop.

The Dow Jones is up slightly this afternoon, rising 0.16pc to 16,417, but the S&P 500 has slipped 0.22pc to 1,846.

14.30 The IoD's Simon Walker is not mincing words in its criticism of Labour, pointing out that "the state has a very poor history of creating competition in banking".

The last time the Government told a bank what to do, Lloyds was ordered to sell branches to Rev. Flowers, and we all know how that ended.

Ed Miliband recognises that businesses need a healthy, competitive banking sector that can provide the finance they need to grow and take on more staff. But his heavy-handed approach would not create one.

Governments must aim to create an environment which encourages new banks to enter the market, but politicians should not fool themselves that they bring about competition by edict.

Ed Balls: No chance of an unhappy relationship between Labour and Carney

13.25 The shadow chancellor has been on the BBC's World at One, and he says that Labour does not disagree with Mark Carney over bank reform and that a Labour administration could work with the Governor of the Bank of England.

In response to Mr Carney's comments earlier this week that market limits on US banks did not prevent the financial crash, Ed Balls said:

I know Mark Carney very well, I don’t think he’s suggesting what caused the sub prime crisis was too much competition and too much diversity.

I’ve known mark carney for a decade and there’s no possibility of an unhappy relationship

Institude of Economic Affairs: Miliband cannot regulate his way to competition

13.15 Mark Littlewod of the Institute of Economic Affairs doesn't like Miliband's plan, calling it "headline-grabbing, political intervention":

If our banking sector is to return to good health, increased certainty in the rules and regulations affecting banks is crucial. This sort of headline-grabbing, political intervention by Ed Miliband is very unhelpful.

We shouldn’t be preventing the best performing firms from expanding. Instead, we need to lower the barriers to entry to make it easier for new providers to compete in the banking market.

Big banks might be expected to offer fewer good deals to customers as they approached their maximum threshold, which will in turn reduce the incentive for smaller providers to offer innovative and attractive new deals. High street lenders may also start to close down their least used branches, restricting choice and access for ordinary people.

Bank of England's Broadbent: Decline in living standards easing

12.30 Just as Ed Miliband continues to plug the cost of living crisis, a key Bank of England rate-setter has said it is encouraging that the gap between inflation and wage rises is decreasing.

Goldman Sachs' Ben Broadbent, who sits on the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee which sets interest rates, said the last 10 years had been "pretty nasty", but that "encouragingly, there are signs that these headwinds are beginning to abate".

"It seems to me highly unlikely that we'll see anything like the relative price headwinds of the past four years," Mr Broadbent said. "If anything, given the longer-term trends in the UK's terms of trade, a move back in the opposite direction is a more likely prospect."

Ed Miliband delivers plan for banks

12.15 Speech over. Given the steady drip of leaks in the last week, there was little new today. Here are some of the main points.

• Despite falling inflation, miliband did not let off on the cost of living crisis point. He said a few months of better statistics are not going to change the debate

• He repeated the assertion that "Britain isn't working" and that "deep solutions" are needed to fix the economy, more of which are likely to be unveiled in the coming weeks.

• Thresholds will apply to market share of personal accounts and business lending. Banks will not be allowed to acquire customers beyond those points.

• Despite Mark Carney's criticisms of a market share cap, Miliband said he and the Bank of England governor actually agree on the issue, just that other changes are needed.

12.00 Miliband asked about how his plans will affect the value of taxpayer stakes in Lloyds and RBS. He doesn't say they won't, but claims the reforms will be good for the economy overall:

There can be no bigger damage inflicted on the longer term British economy [than not fixing the banks], we are going to make the necessary reforms.

11.45 Miliband asked what the threshold would be. He says the right thing to do is to let the Competition and Markets Authority set the threshold, not politicians.

11.40 On that note, Miliband wraps up his speech. We move on to questions. Why is Ed Miliband right and not the Bank of England Governor Mark Carney?

Miliband says there is actually a degree of consensus that competition is an issue. He says he and Mark Carney agree that, on its own, a market share threshold is not right, but that a "whole set of changes" are needed.

11.30 Miliband says under Labour there will be a threshold on any bank's share of personal accounts or small business lending. Beyond that they will not be allowed to merge or acquire banks

I am determined the next Labour government turns that tide. Instead of you serving the banks the banks will serve you once again

11.25 Miliband says he plans to fix financial services, as he plans to fix energy "even though the firms don't like it".

There can be no more important test about whether we're serious. One of the reason Britain relies too much on low paid insecure jobs is because small and medium firms don't get the finance they need from their banks.

He says financial services have been "a pretty poor servant to the real economy"

Because the problems are deep the solutions need to be deep as well that is the task of the next Labour government They think things are going to be ok because average wages are going to overtake prices this year.

If they [the Government] really believe that a few months of better statistics are going to solve the cost of living crisis they only go to show they have no clue about the scale of the problems or the scale of the solutions required

Deficit reduction is not a vision for the country.

11.15 Mr Miliband talking about the "cost of living crisis", which he calls "the single biggest challenge our country faces".

He says people are saying "I can't afford this Government."

11.10 Mr Miliband kicks off. He says the next election is about people who put all the work in and never get anything back, the most vulnerable in our country who are being pushed aside. We are Britain, we are better than this."

11.00 The stage (or maybe the floor) is set for Ed Miliband to outline what he thinks should happen to Britain's banking sector. We're set to kick off any minute Here's the scene at the University of London

FTSE and sterling rise after retail data

11.06 The FTSE 100 has briefly traded above last year's closing peak of 6,840.27 in the wake of the strong retail data, before slipping back again. If the benchmark index manages to close the session above that level, it will have finished at a 14-year closing high.

10.25 The FTSE 100 is on the up following the retail figures, up 0.26pc so far today at 6,833.

Meanwhile, the pound is up 0.5pc on the dollar this morning at $1.644. Experts say a disappointing sales figure would have been the latest in a run of slightly disappointing data, and sent the pound down.

Here's Alex Edwards, head of UKForex's corporate desk:

The risk to GBP/USD prior to the print was to the downside after a recent run of slightly weak UK data and with cable close to breaking down through stops and support at 1.6300.

This will certainly allay any fears for the UK’s economic outlook. Markets have responded by bidding GBP/USD higher and before long, maybe even this afternoon when New York comes online, it could be testing another break of 1.65.

10.00 Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, says that retail sales data is likely to have boosted economic growth in the fourth quarter:

The surge in retail sales in December following a muted overall performance in November and October (retail sales edged up 0.2pc month-on-month in November after a drop of 0.9pc in October) indicates that consumers left much of their Christmas spending late in the hope of getting better late deals from retailers.

It also implies that spending was strong at the start of the clearance sales as squeezed consumers looked to take advantage of genuine bargains.

December’s strong retail sales performance provides a major boost to hopes that GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2013 remained up around the 0.8pc quarter-on-quarter rate achieved in both the third and second quarters.

Even so, it should be noted that because of lacklustre overall sales in November and October, retail sales volumes growth in the fourth quarter of 2013 was limited to 0.4pc, which was down substantially from growth of 1.6pc quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter.

Investec shorting RBS

09.35 Back in the FTSE 100, Royal Bank of Scotland is off 2.1pc after Investec analyst Ian Gordon told clients to short the lender ahead of its full-year results next month. Downgrading his recommendation on RBS to "sell", the analyst said:

'Short RBS' may be a crowded trade but after a 19pc 1-month 'spike', we think it (once again) looks attractive. There are plenty of 'micro' issues which incrementally encourage us in relation to RBS, and which evidently leave us more positively disposed to the stock than the consensual sellside view. That said, the 'big picture' of a painfully slow recovery in earnings/returns still constrains our view on valuation. As such, we now recommend reinstating short positions ahead of full-year 2013 results on 27 Feb.

UK retail sales post highest jump for nine years

09.30 Many of the big retailers suffered over Christmas, but shoppers most certainly splashed out. Official retail sales data for December showed a 5.3pc annual rise - the biggest since October 2004.

On a monthly basis, sales by volume rose 2.6pc, against an expectation of 0.3pc.

According to the Office for National Statistics, much of this was driven by small businesses, with stores with under 100 employees reporting sales growth of 8.1pc.

Value sales also rose strongly - up 6.1pc. This came despite many retailers discounting heavily over Christmas.

&lt;noframe&gt;Twitter: Ed Conway - For those suspecting strong retail sales were purely a result of discounting, note that volumes AND values were up &lt;a href="http://t.co/0dYApduiEI" target="_blank"&gt;http://t.co/0dYApduiEI&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/noframe&gt;

CBI disagrees with Miliband bank plan

09.00 John Cridland, the director general of business group the CBI, is the latest to speak out against Labour's bank plans. He tells Radio 4:

I don't support Ed Miliband's plans. There are too many proposals from politicians for structural change

Business will only support the minimum wage if it's set by experts. I'm in favour getting routes to work for young persons, but I'm not in favour of any politicians telling employers what to say

&lt;noframe&gt;Twitter: Jamie Angus - 'Business will only support the minimum wage if it's set by experts.' CBI John Cridland regrets political interference in min wage &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&amp;q=%23r4today" target="_blank"&gt;#r4today&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/noframe&gt;

Shell slump also weighs on BP

08.38Royal Dutch Shell, which this morning sounded a profit warning, has slumped to the bottom of the FTSE 100, with its B shares down 3.3pc in early trade. The oil major has been hurt by weakness in the refinining industry and oil and gas prices. The news has also weighed on BP, with its shares down 1.7pc.

What's on today

08.30 Here's what to look out for over the course of the day.

• At 09.30, we'll have UK retail sales data for the crucial December month• At 10.00 construction output figures for the eurozone are released• At 11.00 Ed Miliband delivers his speech on Labour plans to force banks to sell branches• At 12.15, Goldman Sachs' Ben Broadbent, a member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, is speaking at the London School of Economics. • And at 13.30 we have new housing data from the US

Footsie rises in early trading

08.15 The FTSE 100 is up 0.1pc in early trading this morning, at 6,822 - edging closer to that record close of 6,930, which could well be achieved before the end of the month.

Shell is down 3.2pc on that profit warning. Royal Bank of Scotland has fallen 1.2pc and Lloyds flat.

Corporate round-up

08.00 The biggest company news today is a big profits warning from Shell. The oil giant is ecpects fourth-quarter earnings of around $2.9bn (£1.8bn), significantly less than the expected $4bn.

Ben van Beurden, Shell's new boss, says: ""Our 2013 performance was not what I expect from Shell. Our focus will be on improving Shell's financial results, achieving better capital efficiency and on continuing to strengthen our operational performance and project delivery."

In other news:

• William Hill, Britain's biggest bookmaker, says it will work with the Government over concerns about betting terminals in high street outlets, after predicting full-year operating profits if £334m, in line with forecasts.

• FirstGroup, the transport company, says it has been shortlisted for the InterCity East Coast rail franchise, which runs between London King's Cross to Leeds, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh. It says trading is in line with market expectations, although there is no comment on the stake recently taken by activist investor Thomas Sandell.

• Shire, the pharmaceuticals group is taking a $650m (£400m) writedown on getting rid of DERMAGRAFT, a business that makes a living skin substitute, to Organogenesis, the US group.

And in Japan, Nintendo now says it expects to lose 35bn yen (£200m) this year, due to disappointing sales of its consoles the Wii U and 3DS games consoles.

It has cut forecasts from a previous 100bn yen profit, and says it expects to sell 2.8m Wii U consoles this year, against a previous forecast of 9m.

It seems even Super Mario may not be able to save Nintendo this time.

Chuka Umunna admits Labour plans will hit Treasury coffers

07.50 Labour's shadow business secretary, Chuka Umunna, has admitted that the taxpayer may get less for its huge stakes in Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds under Labour proposals. He tells the BBC this morning.

What this is about is reforming our economy. The banking crisis cost our economy £1.2 trillion. We believe that the costs of the reforms we're proposing will in the longer term be in the public interest

In the short term there may be a hit on the share price, the reason we're doing this is so we can grow our businesses. If we solve the problems we will see higher income tax receipts and we will have a better economy.